Authors: Gary M. Lavergne

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #General, #Law, #True Crime, #Murder, #test

Bad Boy From Rosebud (41 page)

Page 137

His criminal record described him as 5'9'' tall and weighing 190 pounds, but as he got older he put on much more weight. By 1991, he must have weighed at least 250 pounds. The forty-nine-year-old ex-con had matured into an utterly hideous-looking physical specimen. His long, scraggly, brown hair, thinning on the top, rested on thick shoulders covered with multi-colored, carnival art. Each shoulder was so completely covered with permanent ink that elements of the collage could barely be discerned; above his right breast a bosomy cat-woman-like female presented her nipples; around his neck a blue chain, never to be removed, held a medallion that looked like a stop watch; up and down each arm other cartoon women duplicated Jackie's frightful, icy stare. His green eyes were small for his massive skull. No transition existed between his neck and head. His complexion was "street-person ruddy" and covered with growth somewhere between an Arafat stubble and a full beard. His torso was shaped like an hourglass and covered with an even coating of short, pubic-like hair. Hanging breasts protruded over the tops and sides of his ribs. Below the ribs, in all directions, exploded a massive stomach, so large that its front came to an apex at the belly button, leading him as a stern leads a ship.
²¹

Jackie was an old-time con. He played the game and was an "honest crook," readily admitting to anythingif he got caught. This perverse honesty actually endeared him to most officers who dealt with him; Jackie understood the rulestake your punishment like a man. His record included burglary, larceny, escape, and aggravated assault of a police officer. The assault must not have been very serious; Jackie paid a fine and was released. It probably happened while police were trying to break up one of his many fights. He loved to fight, and delighted in saying he was "the meanest son-of-a-bitch in the jungle." Nobody scared Jackieuntil Christmas Day of 1991.

And so, on December 23, at Sandy's house in Harker Heights, McDuff became acquainted with Jackie. As usual, McDuff was interested in robbing drug dealers and he wanted to know if Jackie knew of any dealers to clip. Jackie thought McDuff was full of hot air and quickly tired of the conversation. He told McDuff of a prostitute in Austin known as Sylvia. At the time, Jackie rented a room with a family in Austin, and after McDuff left, Jackie told Sandy not to let McDuff know where he lived.

In fact, Jackie lived with a family in north Austin in a neighborhood where crack houses had begun to spring up. Jackie and his landlord enter-

Page 138

tained an idea that McDuff could rob the drug producers and maybe run them out of the neighborhood. On Christmas Day, Jackie and the family intended to celebrate with a fine meal and an exchange of presents. McDuff disrupted their plans. Sandy had given him directions to the north Austin home. When the man of the house answered the knock on the door, McDuff walked in uninvited and asked, "Where's Jack?"

Again, McDuff spoke of killing and robbing drug dealers. He vividly described how he could get crack dealers into his car and shoot them in the head as they were getting out so that blood would not get in his car. The homeowner told McDuff to quit talking that way in front of his family; McDuff cared not that the homeowner's wife and children were in the same room and could hear everything. Eventually, the man had to tell his wife to bring their kids into another room until Jackie agreed to accompany McDuff on a search for Sylvia.
²²

Before he could rob anyone, McDuff had to get a gun. He insisted on cruising Austin in search of a big gun, not just the .357 magnum he had been offered. He and Jackie looked for a pawnshopon Christmas Dayto buy a gun; none were open. 7-Eleven convenience stores, however, were open and McDuff stopped at one on North Lamar Street to steal gas by filling up and placing the nozzle on the ground. He told Jackie he learned how to do that by working at a convenience store. Jackie also noticed that McDuff often intentionally drove the wrong way on one-way streets.

Most disturbing to Jackie, though, was McDuff's reaction to seeing two young girls on rollerskates. McDuff drove up to them and had Jackie ask them if they knew where Sylvia could be found. When one of the young girls said "no" and skated away, McDuff turned to Jackie and said "let's get them, throw them in here and go." Jackie reacted emphatically; he wanted nothing to do with that. He told McDuff that he had girlfriends and did not have to do that sort of thing. Moments later, at a convenience store, the two men saw two more young girls using a pay phone. Jackie watched McDuff, in a near hypnotic state, leering at the two girls. When McDuff stated, "Look at that . . . that sure looks good doesn't it . . . let's get 'em," Jackie repeated his refusal with a more emphatic, "Hell, no!''

Sometime between 3 and 4
P.M.
, after hours of trying to convince Jackie to go with him to Temple to get a gun, McDuff brought Jackie back home to north Austin. As McDuff drove away in his tan 1985 Ford

Page 139

Thunderbird, Jackie thought, and later told federal investigators, that McDuff was a lunatic, weird, crazy, and the scariest person he had ever been around. He had never encountered anyone so totally unpredictable and obsessed with robbing and killing. "All I wanted to do was get away from him," Jackie said. Given Jackie's own background and experiences, that was quite a statement.
²³

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1 Texas DPS Website; Waco Police Department [WPD] Files:
Arrest Form, #F38826,
September 6, 1991;
Waco Tribune-Herald,
October 24, 1998.

2 WPD Files:
Arrest Form, #F40130,
May 24, 1991.

3 WPD Files:
Arrest Form, #F38826,
September 6, 1991.

4 WPD Files:
Arrest Form, #F3794,
September 25, 1991, and
#F41095,
September 27, 1991; Kenneth Allen McDuff; Confidential Documents.

5 Ibid.,
Offense Report, Case #91-062985,
by Officer Barrington, October 19, 1991, and by Mike Nicoletti, July 9, 1992; County of McLennan:
Sworn Statement of [Jennifer],
June 25, 1992.

6 Ibid.,
Arrest Form, #F41576,
by Officer Swanton; The times of Regenia Moore's arrest, booking, and release are from McLennan County jail logs read to the author over the phone by Deputy Ronnie Turnbough of the McLennan County Sheriff's Office on August 3, 1998.

7 WPD Files:
Offense Report, Case #91-060936,
by Officer Swanton, October 10, 1991.

8 County of McLennan:
Sworn Statement of [Michael],
June 18, 1992.

9 WPD Files:
Offense Report, Case #91-062985,
by Officer Barrington, October 19, 1991; Confidential Document.

10 WPD Files:
Offense Report, Case #91-062985,
by Officer Barrington, October 19, 1991.

11 Confidential Documents; County of McLennan:
Sworn Statement of [Frankie],
July 2, 1992;
Austin American-Statesman,
April 25, 1992.

12 County of McLennan:
Statement of [Frankie],
July 2, 1992; Charles Meyer; APD Files:
Transcript of a taped interview with [Mark],
July 31, 1992.

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